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Monday, 31 March 2014

South Africa progress to semis and knock NZ out of WWT20

I leave my desk for one afternoon and look what happens? South Africa have turned the Women's WT20 on its head with a stunning victory over the White Ferns in the last of the Group A games and by doing so they have not only qualified for the semi-finals but they have prevented New Zealand making any further progress.

It will be Australia and South Africa, by dint of a better Net Run Rate than New Zealand, that progress in the competition. They will play either West Indies or England in the respective semi-finals - which one will not be decided until tomorrow afternoon when West Indies play India in the last of the Group B games. If the Windies win then they will play South Africa. If they lose then England will be South Africa's semi-final opponents.

Up until now it could have been argued that New Zealand looked like the best team in this competition. They were unbeaten, having beaten Australia by 7 runs; Ireland by 42 runs; and Pakistan by 59 runs, so for South Africa to come out and beat them is a magnificent effort. They restricted the White Ferns to just 114/8 in their 20 overs after they had got off to a decent start through Devine (40) and Bates (16). Wickets in the 13th, 15th, 16th and 17th overs took the stuffing out of the Kiwi's batting and they fell 20/30 runs short of a decent total. But the runs still needed to be scored and skipper Mignon du Preez (51) stepped up. Two late wickets (Kapp 23 and du Preez) almost derailed the victory but the experienced Shandre Fritz struck her first ball for 4 when 9 were needed off 8 balls and Chloe Tryon then finished the game with another 4 in the last over.